I'm enjoying this debate more and more by the way.
The argument isn't that non-iconic characters can't be DLC, the argument is that non iconic third party characters aren't getting in period, DLC or not. As Lucas and Roy already show, non iconic Nintendo characters can be DLC, but Bayonetta is not a Nintendo character. As Sakurai has already said before, it's hard enough to work with second party Nintendo characters (Pokemon), and third parties are a real pain to deal with legally, they aren't going to go through the trouble for just any old Joe.
Um??? I was focusing on non-iconic third parties the whole time?
I don't really think Bayonetta is really much of a hassle, in fact, Hideki Kamiya has stated before he'd be willing to her in Smash if Sakurai asked him to add her in the game. This goes for every other character whose creator willingly wants their character in Smash. In reality, it would be
less of a hassle and be much of easier process than you think.
In fact, Sakurai and Kamiya seem to be very close buddies with the Platinum Games visit he's done two years ago:
http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=199019
Sakurai gave it to me.
twitpic.com/8zozrn RT @
zeldaprime If u like starfox and funny games, u should get Kid Icarus Uprising on 3ds!
— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya)
It would not be much of a real trouble at all.
Kamiya's comment by the way:
http://www.gamnesia.com/news/kamiya-would-be-willing-to-put-bayonetta-in-smash-bros#.VTMA7qb0hUQ
"So it's not something that I could comment on. In fact, you could probably ask Mr. Sakurai! If Mr. Sakurai wanted to put her in the game it probably would happen and I'd be more than happy to!"
Can Sakurai "make a character hypeworthy?" Sure he can, but you're missing the point completely. A third party character shouldn't have to be made hypeworthy, a third party character should be someone that people (and not just a niche fanbase) would instantly go "WOAH, THEY GOT THAT GUY IN?!" Think about it in terms of actors, if a movie got a big name actor in it, people would want to go see that movie, compared to some random guy who was in one or two home movies, his friends and family would go "woah, Joe got in a film!" but the general audience is going to sit their and say "who's this bloke?"
They also are characters that can create on their solely by being in the game, Shovel Knight's and Bayonetta's popularity in the ballot right now is
already proving that a whole load of people would get hyped for their inclusions. If you really want a random bloke who will a very small minority hyped, it would be someone like Wandering Hero from Streetpass Mii Plaza or AR Man from the AR Games that was bundled with the 3DS.
No one is saying "Bayonetta would have a boring moveset" and I'm sure most people at least acknowledge that she'd be something totally different, but a moveset is not everything. Indie characters like Shovel Knight are even worse off, sure no one else bounces around like a pogo stick, but that's not going to win him any brownie points.
*This is more-so focused on Bayonetta by the way*
It can be, especially if it's the first step Sakurai decides when deciding 3rd parties, the more promising the moveset, the more inclined Sakurai is to keep her in DLC priority list somewhere.
Third parties have to be iconic, they have to have legacy, they can't be rookies just learning to walk on their own two legs, they have to have lived and thrived throughout a lifelong career. Mega Man has 70 something + games, Sonic has spawned something larger than himself, Pac-Man was literally an icon of an era that reached outside of gaming, Metal Gear revolutionized a genre and has always been the pinnacle of cinematic gaming that a lot of others strive to achieve, Street Fighter is the game you would think of when someone brings up fighting games and frankly Smash wouldn't even exist had it not popularized the genre. What has Bayonetta done? She was a hobo that Nintendo threw some spare change at. And Indies? Don't even get me started.
The problem with this whole thing, is that
it's just your opinion.
Nowhere in Sakurai's 3rd party criteria it states they have to a legacy of some kind,
nowhere does he states that they have to have 70+ plus games in order to get in,
nowhere does he state that they also have to revolutionize a genre of some kind, and
nowhere does it state that they have to be an icon that reached outside of gaming.
It's just your view on the 3rd party character matter, not fact that's been officially said by Sakurai.
And that view of third parties Sakurai potentially has can potentially change with DLC later on.
Still, you
cannot discount the somewhat good possibility that non-iconic third parties can be in the game as DLC, it's not something to set aside easily.
